South Sudan rebels move into capital

Juba – Armed South Sudanese rebels have begun taking up positions in the capital, a risky but crucial step to end two years of war.
The Associated Press and other journalists on Thursday toured one of the rebel camps where fighters dressed in green fatigues stood in semi-circle formation, chanting call-and-response war songs and waving their AK-47s in unison.
More than 900 of the rebels have set up camp in two designated sites in Juba as part of a process to secure the city for the scheduled return on April 18 of their leader, Riek Machar.
The fighters will eventually reintegrate into the army, rebel General James Koang, who is overseeing the process, told the journalists.
Some rebels told AP they expect to safely reunite with the troops they’ve battled the last two years.
“We lost so many of our brothers, but now we have seen each other, so I’m happy we shall greet each other,” said fighter Lagu Joseph. “If we meet each other, we will sit together as brothers.”
The rebels here said their bigger concern is living conditions. They said they only have bed frames but no mattresses and sleep in the open.
During the journalists’ visit, a few of the fighters blew vuvezelas or held tattered South Sudanese flags which flapped in the morning breeze.
There were only a few blue tents, a leaking pipe where soldiers filled mugs to drink, some newly dug pit latrines, and piles of metal bedframes and bundles of grass to be used to make huts.
This camp for the rebels, who are mostly Nuer, is in a few hastily cleared hectares of land behind a rocky outcrop which looms over Juba. It’s near a sprawling United Nations base where nearly 30 000 Nuer civilians have sought shelter.